This one focuses on Ryan's relationships with The Cohens, Kaitlin, and Julie. A little of Frank, too. The Walkers are mentioned, of course, but... it focues on his 'other' family.

When Ryan got home, he found Sandy waiting for him in the poolhouse. He sighed, then walked inside. "Hey."

"Ryan, please let me..."

"I get it, Sandy," Ryan interrupted. "You thought you were protecting me. But you lied to me."

"I was scared you'd get hurt if I didn't."

"You lied to me," Ryan repeated. "Don't you get that I respected your opinion and if you said I shouldn't get to know them, I wouldn't have?"

"Ryan..."

"You blew that, Sandy," Ryan said, his face showing how much it hurt to say that. "I trusted you, I respected you more than anyone in my life, and... and you didn't respect or trust me."

"Kid, please," Sandy began. "I was scared you'd get hurt, and I was scared you'd chose them because..."

"What?" Ryan said. "God, Sandy! Yeah, I like them, I plan on getting to know them, but you and Kirsten, and Seth are my family and always will be, even if they become my family, too! You literally saved my life Sandy! Where would I be if you hadn't given me your card that day outside Juvie? Or if you'd given up on me after I got arrested because Trey lied? Or when I lost it over Marissa? You guys drug me back every time and refused to let me go because you are my family. I can't believe you think that after all that, after all you've done for me, I'd just toss you aside for a shiny new family," he concluded, a look of disgust on his face.

"I made a mistake," Sandy said. "And I'm sorry."

"You're my family, Sandy, even if I'm pissed at you right now," Ryan said. "But I'm tired, it was a long drive, so..." he added, gesturing towards the door.

"Right," Sandy agreed. "I'll see you at breakfast?"

"Sure," Ryan said, nodding.

~~~

"Dude, why'd you go off on Dad the other night?" Seth asked when he burst into the pool house the next morning. "And when he came inside last night he looked completely dejected!"

"I thought I locked that," Ryan mumbled, sitting up.

"No lock can keep me out!" Seth declared triumphantly.

"Can death threats manage?" Ryan asked.

"Seriously, you went off on Dad, then disappeared all day yesterday, and then you come home late, and Dad comes in from talking to you looking like someone kicked his puppy but he was trying to be happy about it and what's up with that?"

"He's upset that I had dinner with the Walkers," Ryan said.

"Can you blame him?" Seth said. "I mean come on, you looked ready to have a breakdown when that lady showed up and told you that Frank wasn't your dad!"

"And she's not one of them," Ryan said. "I don't know what that woman thought she was doing, but I doubt she was officially representing them considering how careful they were about not being too pushy."

"If they care so much they wouldn't be worried," Seth grumbled.

"What?" Ryan asked, incredulous. "So if they cared, they'd act like you and not give a damn if they upset me?"

"That's not what I..." Seth began.

"It's what you just said, Seth," Ryan said. "You said they wouldn't be worried about how I felt if they care so much!"

"No I didn't!"

"Do you even listen to yourself sometimes?" Ryan asked. "Just... get out, Seth, I need to take a shower and get dressed."

"But..."

"Get out!" Ryan repeated. When Seth had left, looking confused, Ryan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He'd meant what he had said to Sandy about the Cohens always being his family, but after spending time with the Walkers and seeing that maybe he could have siblings who didn't treat him like their pet pound puppy, he just wanted to smack Seth.

~~~

"Ryan," Julie said as she walked into the restraunt.

"Hey, Julie," Ryan replied.

"Have you seen Kaitlin lately?" Julie asked, wringing her hands.

"No... why?" Ryan asked.

"She and Frank got in an arguement a few nights ago, and she left but she hasn't come back..."

"How many nights ago?" Ryan asked.

"Three?" Julie replied, her tone saying that she knew what it said about her that she hadn't started looking sooner.

"Something did happen, Julie," Ryan said. "You kept dating Frank after I told you he was bad news. After you saw his temper in action!"

"If she just hadn't yelled..." Julie began.

"Did he hit her?" Ryan asked.

"He didn't mean to," Julie insisted.

Ryan made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. "You deserve to lose her, Julie," he said. "I'll find her, but only because I give more of a damn about Kaitlin than you do."

"That's not true!"

"You're sixteen year-old daughter got hit by your boyfriend, who you know is an abusive SOB, and you don't bother telling anyone for three days, Julie! That doesn't sound like a loving caring mother to me! In fact? It sounds like my mother." He went to the door to the back. "Jack, I gotta go, family emergency."

"When'll you be back?" Jack, the manager, asked.

"I don't know," Ryan said. "But with the business we've had lately, I don't think you'll have that much trouble getting someone to cover for me. Just remind them they'll get paid to sit around and study."

"Ryan..." Julie began again.

"I'll find her," Ryan said. "But not to send her back to your house, not as long as Frank's there."

It took Ryan about an hour of looking to figure it out, then he headed to the beach near where Johnny's funeral had been, finding her sitting crosslegged in the sand, staring at the water. "Personally, I don't get it, but Frank has a way of making women be total bitches," he said as he sat down beside her arms loosely wrapping around his knees.

"I thought you were smarter than this, Ryan," Kaitlin said, looking down at the sand. "Figured you'd find me in like an hour or two."

"I did," Ryan replied. "Julie didn't bother to ask if I'd seen you until today." He shooked his head. "I'm sorry, Kaitlin," he added.

"For what?"

"For not checking in with you, making sure you were okay. I should have known you were gone without needing Julie to tell me."

"Hey, just because Frank isn't my biological father, and Julie's a stupid bitch, doesn't mean anything's changed, Kaitlin," Ryan said, reaching out to put an arm around her shoulders and pull her closer. "What part of 'I will always be your brother' do you not get?"

Kaitlin smiled slightly, leaning against him. "I don't wanna go back," she said. "But I know the Cohens will make me when Mom pretends to have ended things with Frank..."

"You're sixteen, Kaitlin," Ryan said. "If you can find a job, you can get emancipated, no one can make you go back."

"And who's gonna hire me?" Kaitlin asked skeptically.

"I'll find somebody," Ryan said. "So, you trust me?"

"If I didn't, would I still be sitting here?" Kaitlin replied.

"Right, stupid question," Ryan agreed, smiling. "I can probably get you a job at the restraunt, if you don't mind waiting tables."

"Not like anyone from Harbor goes there anyway," Kaitlin said. "That place is gross."

"You say that like it's the only way he would!" Kaitlin protested as she got up.

"Hate to break it to you..." Ryan began, laughing as she shoved his shoulder. "He'll give you the job out of pity, he'll let you keep it if you do a good job."

"I'll try," Kaitlin said. "But where am I gonna live?"

"Let's call Summer, see if you can hide out at her house."

"That's where I've been crashing," Kaitlin admitted. "I told her the 'noise' was getting to me."

"Oh, I didn't need that mental image," Ryan said, making a face.

To Be Continued...

The woman Seth and Ryan talk about briefly is Holly Harper... I'll go into more about when Ryan found out that William Walker, not Frank Atwood, was his father at a later time. But basically, Holly (Another woman William had an affair with, and who led the Walkers, and her daughter Rebecca, to believe Rebecca was William's daughter) showed up at the Cohens and just dropped the bombshell, being all pushy about it, to the point that Ryan sort of freaked, and that's part of why Sandy was so concerned that he lied to Ryan. He saw Holly at the party where he met the Walkers, and he assumed she was a close family friend or something.

While thinking on this... and it seems kinda odd now because they two stories are nothing alike and totally different ones to them... I came up with this totally Crack-Tastic idea that you can find over here: Controlling Cohens. The Cohens are control freaks that are downright scary in their control-y-ness. Ryan has tried to escape and hdie from them, but they've found him. It's Crack AND Angst!

I loved the conversation/confrontation with Sandy and Ryan - how Ryan still sees Sandy as family inspite of his mistakes. But Holly is totally the spawn of the devil and...okay gonna refrain from going down that rant.

And the Ryan/Kaitlin - I love it. One of my favourite scenes in the fourth scene was Ryan calling himself Kaitlin's brother and I adore the way your write the two of them.

Holly is msot definitely someone I wouldn't mind seeign get hit by a bus... oops... did I say that out loud? lol

I know! I love that scene, too! Ryan would do anything for her, and while at first I think, even in Canon, it might have been out of a kind of obligation, I think by the end of the show he loved her independantly of the whole Marissa connection.